After reading Ariel's thread a couple times over I decided to look up "bilateral salpingectomy" on Google ("Scroogle," actually ). I didn't find much in terms of pro-sterilization but mostly articles about trying to conceive. But I did find this article on one of the fertility boards that really threw me for a loop.

Quote:

The chances [of getting pregnant] are still there - BUT VERY slight! Tubes have been known to grow back! But that usually takes years! And only has about a 2% chance! ... Actually IF you have a even part of an ovary - that is still viable and releasing eggs! And sperm you can get pregnant! ALL the embryo needs is a blood source to attach itself too! This can be a bladder, colon, intestine etc! It is called an Etopic Pregnancy! It is VERY VERY rare but it still happens!

Quote:

One of the specialist told me that even though the fallopian tubes have been removed, there can still be an opening to the uterus (as fallopian tubes aren't connected to the uterus anyway) As everything else is in working order, the ovaries still produce eggs & each month one is released - in normal circumstances it would travel down the fallopian tube into the uterus etc.. but as I have no fallopian tubes, apparently they dissolve in the abdomen.... but somehow this little egg miraculously made it into the uterus. It is possible for sperm to also get out of the opening in the uterus & meeting the egg somewhere in the abdomen (it's then that it could attach itself to another blood source & become an ectopic pregnancy) ... one of the midwives told me of a lady she looked after whom had a baby after a hysterectomy! Apparently it 'grew back'

The reason I might tend to doubt this is because the first poster I quoted above (the second paragraph is another user) then added (emphasis mine):

Quote:

Beyond ALL reason they grow back! I will tell you a true story - hand on heart! A work mate of mine had 3 children and decided to have a vasectomy, about 12 months later, they had their 4th child a TOTAL Surprise! So after the birth of their 4th child, his wife had her tubes done! Just over 1 year after that they had their 5th child!!!! I swear too GOD! We even had to have a fundraiser for them at work, as this was TOTALLY unexpected! We call those children "Miracle children" ... I just think that sometimes, Mother Nature has a FAR Stronger Control over our bodies than Science does!

It doesn't sound to me like these women really knew what an ectopic pregnancy was and how dangerous it could be, especially that first one I quoted (the poor spelling and anti-science failed logic and overuse of words like "miracle" and, well, "God"). But I need to know if this can actually happen. Is it really possible to still get pregnant naturally after such procedures as tubal removal (over ligation), and hysterectomy, because the organs have a chance to "grow back"? I thought once something was gone, it's gone, and no amount of miracles or irrationality is going to make them reappear out of nowhere...

Or, maybe this sounds like the realm of sci-fi (which I would think people who use words like "miracle" and "God" in excess have a tendency not to like), but, since there are such things as kidney transplants and even heart transplants... are there uterus and Fallopian transplants too?

Supposedly my sister's tonsils "grew back" after she had them removed -- but she was very young when she got them out (toddler-age), so she was still actively growing and developing. I'm still not sure I buy it, though. Maybe the doc just didn't completely remove them. This all happened long before I was born, so I can only go by what the family says.

There is no way a whole uterus would just grow back from scratch, and I'd imagine the same goes for Fallopian tubes if you have them completely removed. And the bit about fertilized eggs growing on random bodily organs is completely bogus. Even if sperm could somehow end up in the abdominal cavity, there's no way they'd survive long enough to fertilize anything.

Joined: Mon Jan 03, 2011 4:48 pmPosts: 632Location: In a van down by the river!

spinster wrote:

Supposedly my sister's tonsils "grew back" after she had them removed -- but she was very young when she got them out (toddler-age), so she was still actively growing and developing. I'm still not sure I buy it, though. Maybe the doc just didn't completely remove them. This all happened long before I was born, so I can only go by what the family says.

There is no way a whole uterus would just grow back from scratch, and I'd imagine the same goes for Fallopian tubes if you have them completely removed. And the bit about fertilized eggs growing on random bodily organs is completely bogus. Even if sperm could somehow end up in the abdominal cavity, there's no way they'd survive long enough to fertilize anything.

That's what I thought, especially with all the "Gawwwwd grew them back so I could have my miracle" dialogue. But I just wanted to make sure.

Any idea about Frankenwomb reproductive-organ transplants or is this for the realm of (horror and) science fiction?

As far as I'm aware, the only organ in your body that can regenerate itself is your liver.

Having your tubes tied is not the same as a salpingectomy. A salpingectomy is when they completely remove the tubes, rather than just cutting them and cauterizing the ends.It's possible that in the story the second poster was referring to, the vas deferens were able to partially reconnect and some sperm got through. Maybe the woman had clips rather than a tubal ligation, and one of the clips came off.It's highly unlikely that if he had a vasectomy and she had her tubes tied, and they were both sterile, that they could still get pregnant twice afterwards. Unless maybe they didn't bother going back for testing, and he was still fertile, and her tubes weren't completely blocked.

_________________"The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before." Albert Einstein

As far as I'm aware, the only organ in your body that can regenerate itself is your liver.

Having your tubes tied is not the same as a salpingectomy. A salpingectomy is when they completely remove the tubes, rather than just cutting them and cauterizing the ends.It's possible that in the story the second poster was referring to, the vas deferens were able to partially reconnect and some sperm got through. Maybe the woman had clips rather than a tubal ligation, and one of the clips came off.It's highly unlikely that if he had a vasectomy and she had her tubes tied, and they were both sterile, that they could still get pregnant twice afterwards. Unless maybe they didn't bother going back for testing, and he was still fertile, and her tubes weren't completely blocked.

^This.

I don't think it's possible for tubes to grow back, if fact, I'd bet money on it not being possible. Pregnancies do occur after people get TL and VS but usually it's because they weren't done correctly. For example, a lot of times women don't have their tubes removed or even cut or cauterized, just clamped. So sometimes sperm can slip through. Also, if a man doesn't correctly follow up his VS he might still be producing sperm and not know it. Of course, even if everything is done perfectly there is still a VERY rare chance, but most people are idiots and aren't as careful as they should be.

Unless you're having a hysterectomy done, pregnancy (mostly ectopic) is technically possible. I wanted to have my tubes removed but my doctor said she couldn't do that unless she had a medical reason ( ), but is happy to do a TL for me. I don't know the technical term for my procedure, but it's the kind where chunks of the tubes are removed and the openings are all cauterized. It's the next best thing.

Organs growing back (other than liver) is complete hogwash. I'm pretty sure, in 2011, we would know if they grow back on their own!!

_________________"Every sperm is sacred, every sperm is great. If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite irate." Monty Python, The Meaning of Life

Joined: Mon Jan 03, 2011 4:48 pmPosts: 632Location: In a van down by the river!

I would think the scientific regeneration of fertility would be probably the ONLY way that religion would support stem cell research. A little "destruction of life" here and there (as they call it) to make sure there's no 100% chance a woman can EVER be permanently sterile.

Just like with kidney transplants, I could see a loophole that Catholics et. al. would allow if the person is already dead. Or something like the Jarvik artificial heart, it'd be the Corpus Christi(tm) Artificial Womb.

I've already started having paranoid fears a futuristic existential crisis (that might actually be good for a dystopian sci-fi novel...!) about finally being TL'ed or salpingectomied, then kidnapped by a fundie-breeder torture team and forced into involuntary IVF treatment. (It could be a reality if we get a Repugnican into the White House. Talk about 2012 being the end of the world.)

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